You rats are all quiet this week. [Justin is not quiet. He's loud and on the verge of laughing. He's in a rather dark building somewhere.] Are you that scared of the punishments?
[Stein, who chose to battle this week's experiment by literally sewing his lips shut, just shrugs. It's not like he could really talk even if he wanted to at this point. Not without finding some scissors at the very least. Scared? Of course not. Feeling a little vulnerable now that he's unarmed again and would rather not deal with these punishments if he doesn't have to? A bit.]
[He holds up a finger and rifles through a few pockets before pulling out a marker and writing on his hand in scribbly, barely legible doctor's handwriting: Sorry, I'm not a screamer.
And even though he can't move his lips too much, there is a definite hint of a smirk there.]
[Stein studies his hand for a while, like he's trying to pick out a good spot to write. It takes a few seconds before he decides on his thumb: Hallucination. With a slightly wonky scribble that was probably meant to be an s squeezing itself onto the very tip of his nail.]
[Justin's laugh doesn't quite sound like the laugh of a madman. There's no blatant note of hysterics or sadism. He sounds like a teenager who hasn't laughed in months, startled by a sudden hilarious mental image. If you didn't study him too closely, if you didn't know the week's experiment, you would think he was sane.
He got good at faking sanity, pretending that he wasn't high on madness, good enough that no one noticed his slipping wavelength during the mission to Lost Island, enough that it came as a surprise when he betrayed them all.]
[Justin's laugh was strangely infectious. Stein didn't exactly burst into his own fit of laughter, but there was a hissing noise that came out of his nose, probably barely audible over Justin's own laughter, but there all the same. There was definitely something softer about the way Stein looked at him though. Like he just realized - or maybe was just reminded - that at the end of the day, Justin was just a kid. A Deathscythe and a traitor, sure, but not much older than any of his students.
And maybe on some deeper level, he just felt bad for Justin. He knew what insanity was like and he wouldn't wish it on his worst enemy. And while Justin was certainly a lot of things, he was hardly Stein's worst enemy
( ... )
[He taps the marker on his lower lip a few times, trying to think of the most concise way to phrase this. It's a rather long essay of an explanation usually, but Stein is pretty sure he'll run out of body parts if he doesn't shorten it.
"I fidget a lot when I think. Might as well make use of it to make thinking itself easier. Plus, I could use it as a fail-safe to break my focus on something if I had to."]
[Right on his elbow comes an equally short answer: Fantastically.
Though he looks the slightest bit insulted. Really Justin, don't you know Stein is the best ever at medicine? Why would he even bother if it wouldn't work?]
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And even though he can't move his lips too much, there is a definite hint of a smirk there.]
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With a severely annoyed look on his face, Stein rolls up his sleeve a bit and starts scribbling an explanation along his arm.
"When you follow one of the little things into a teapot and nearly get stuck trying to climb out the spout, yes, it's a problem."]
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He got good at faking sanity, pretending that he wasn't high on madness, good enough that no one noticed his slipping wavelength during the mission to Lost Island, enough that it came as a surprise when he betrayed them all.]
At least you got out.
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And maybe on some deeper level, he just felt bad for Justin. He knew what insanity was like and he wouldn't wish it on his worst enemy. And while Justin was certainly a lot of things, he was hardly Stein's worst enemy ( ... )
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Oh. Stupid teenagers. Justin has this odd feeling that the phrase somehow makes Stein more like him. ]
Why did you do it?
[He taps a finger on his temple for emphasis.]
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"I fidget a lot when I think. Might as well make use of it to make thinking itself easier. Plus, I could use it as a fail-safe to break my focus on something if I had to."]
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Does it work?
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Though he looks the slightest bit insulted. Really Justin, don't you know Stein is the best ever at medicine? Why would he even bother if it wouldn't work?]
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What would happen if someone... pulled it out? Or twisted it too much?
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